Standing around in Balmain's family restaurants or cafes, I often overhear kids begging their parents for a stopover in Kidstuff.
"Please Dad, I'll just be a second," and the tot will eagerly run out the door. 5, 10 or 20 minutes later, the kid returns, equally as excited, with a Kidstuff helium balloon in hand. "Dad, can I please have $25?"
I too found myself in a similar situation. Walking through the doors of Kidstuff (I had to see what all this fuss was about), I found out that the shop was deceptively large - it's no wonder that kids get lost in here for so long. After I made my way through the shelves of toys for girls and boys, swimming and pool accessories, sratch'n'sniff stickers, figurines and costumes, I found myself facing a wall of family friendly board games, including Monopoly, four different editions of Scrabble, Risk, Twister and Balderdash. I looked in my bag to find my wallet, only to find it empty - I hadn't come prepared to be wooed. I ran out of the store. "Kate! Can I please borrow $50?"
It's no Australian Hamley's equivalent (PLEASE tell me if you find one), but it'll have you running to Mum and Dad, asking for money. Unless, of course, you're financially stable enough to afford it yourself. In which case, congratulations! You can have all the toys! read more